


Misconceptions

by Dristi5683



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Earth is a monarchy, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 18:31:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9136366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dristi5683/pseuds/Dristi5683
Summary: To unite two realms as permanent allies, the rumored mercurial and devious second prince of Asgard is set to marry the supposedly plain and peculiar princess of Earth. What will happen when the pair finally meet?





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gabbiki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gabbiki/gifts).



A/N: please pretend that Earth is a monarchy. Thanks! :)

\-----

Jane pulled off her heels and lifted up the skirt of her long gown to crouch on the golden floor of the infamous Bifrost. She ran her fingers over the smooth metal, tingling with coolness and something else altogether. That was what she wanted to find out. What powered the structure? How did it teleport people to specific locations without any noticeable tech? 

Opening the trunk she'd wheeled in, she glanced at Heimdall standing outside on the Rainbow Bridge. He shifted his head, looking to the side. At what, she had no idea. Frankly, she was surprised the near-silent guard even allowed her to enter the domed building. He must've known she had snuck away from the grand ball at the palace. 

The announcement of her betrothal was imminent. Her insides knotted, but she forced her unfortunate future from her mind and focused on the task at hand. Jane removed the contents of the trunk, assembled each piece, then scanned the space and recorded the readings in her notebook.

Time slipped by in her world of numbers and theories. She'd already begun to devise a possible copycat that could very well be built on Midgard—Earth, she corrected herself, tightening her grip on her pencil. 

The classes she'd been forced to take on Asgardian terminology, history, and customs were starting to seep into her brain and take root. It wasn't that she didn't like the realm or couldn't understand why her father thought it necessary to align their worlds through a bond of marriage. She just wanted to focus on her work. There was so much she needed to accomplish before becoming a proper princess of Asgard and representative of Earth, bound to the second prince, the God of Mischief. Horrible things had been said of him: arrogant, mercurial, devious, vain, proud, jealous—

"Heimdall?" a man's voice asked. 

Jane whirled to find a stranger looking from the Gatekeeper to her. The two men were the same height, which made him head and shoulders taller than her. His dark hair, as black as a moonless night, touched his shoulders before curling away. 

"She sought solitude and knowledge," Heimdall said in his deep, mesmerizing voice. "This I could not deny her."

The newcomer's brow lifted. "Unfortunately, I seek solitude as well." He clasped his hands behind his back and made to leave. 

"I'll ignore you, so long as you ignore me," Jane called despite herself. She should've let him go, but she understood his need. 

He stopped and slowly turned to face her. The colors coursing through the translucent bridge lit up with each of his movements, dancing along his dark boots and breeches, lending a festive look to his solemn appearance. She couldn't help but wonder why he was so gloomy. He wasn't being forced to throw away his future for a marriage he didn't desire. 

"Your tinkering would be most distracting," he said with eyes on her equipment. He looked at Heimdall again. "I'm not positive Odin would allow this."

Jane hadn't asked the Allfather, not because she was scared of him, but because she got away with a lot more if she didn't go around announcing what she intended. "They're harmless, just spectrometers, dosimeters, microscopes—" Her gaze landed on her metal cutter, and she shifted to block it from view. What the golden dome was made of could be important in conducting, enhancing, or stabilizing the energy needed to teleport. 

"As a matter of fact, I'm finished with this phase." She picked up the shears out of their view and dropped them in the trunk. 

"Who are you?" he asked, taking a step in her direction. 

"A scientist, astrophysicist specifically, but I like to dabble in other fields, including engineering." She smiled and continued packing away her things. "Interstellar travel, particularly through Einstein-Rosen bridges, have always been a fascination of mine. No one believed me until the day you guys showed up." She closed the lid of the trunk and locked it. "I guess I have you to thank for my vindication."

"Not me personally."

"Of course not. I don't recall seeing you in the welcoming committee." 

Jane walked to the opening in the Bifrost overlooking the multitude of galaxies filling the night sky, each one vivid and beautiful. Some swirled around an eye, others spiraled to the center, and a few took the shape of a bright streak. She sat on the edge, letting her bare feet dangle in the cool breeze. Her fingers mindlessly fanned the corner of her notebook as she got lost in counting each type of galaxy and memorizing their locations. 

A shadow alerted her to his presence. He hovered nearby, but not so close to occupy the opening with her. "You were there?"

She didn't bother to look up at him. "Everyone was there. If they weren't at that welcoming ceremony themselves, they watched via the broadcasts."

Silence fell over them as she charted the galaxies, nebulae, and neighboring star systems. No one knew exactly where Asgard was, but she just might be able to pinpoint their location.

A step brought him closer to her. She could feel him, not his warmth, but some odd sense of knowing. Goosebumps prickled her skin. 

"You needn't bother," he said, gazing down at her mediocre drawings and chicken scratch. Jane closed her notebook, but he continued on. "We have all the stars named and mapped in both the library and the observatory."

"I thought you said you wanted solitude?" she asked without thinking. Despite her cheeks warming, she did not soften her tactlessness with placating words. 

He chuckled, and she found herself staring at his broad smile and the crinkling at the corners of his eyes, now bright with mirth. He nearly seemed like a completely different person. 

"Who are you?" she echoed his earlier question.

His gaiety vanished. "A man on the brink of death."

"You're sick?" she asked incredulously. Even with his paleness, he was the picture of health. Plus, Asgard had such advanced medical technology, it made the humans' look primitive.

"I wish it were as simple as that." 

"So, just melodramatic, then." She tempered the sting of her words with a sincere smile. 

He stared at her, green eyes taking all of her in and then some. It was as if he was trying to see beyond her words and features to the very essence of who she was. Her smile fell and her breath stalled in her chest. 

Tearing her gaze off him, she looked out at the galaxies and began cataloging them again. There was one in particular that looked very similar to the Milky Way, spiraling with four noticeable arms. If she had her telescopes, she could catch the finer details and determine if they were, indeed, outside her home galaxy. 

She had to pause and let that sink in. They could very well be on Andromeda or Hoag's Object. Maybe even in another universe. 

With a sigh, the man lowered himself next to her, his long legs stretching over the edge far beyond hers. "You are Midgardian, are you not?"

Galaxies and universes forgotten, Jane answered, "I would think that obvious." She straightened her legs to show their short length—besides the children, everyone was so tall in Asgard. 

Her perfectly manicured toenails sparkled in the light. She'd been primped and pampered for the past several days to get her ready for the announcement. Jane grimaced, then looked at him. 

His eyes were on her feet, tracing the length of her legs and the gossamer gown falling off them like waterfalls of emeralds. The fabric, the color, and the design had all been picked for her. No one trusted her casual taste. 

"Why do you ask?" she asked, bending her legs again. 

It took him a moment before he could answer, to pull his gaze from where her feet had been to her face, to finish that same observant scan that made her heart kick into overdrive. "It is just that...you are more than I'd expected of your kind. It gives me hope."

She wasn't certain that was a compliment. "Thanks?"

He smiled brightly again, and she found herself mirroring him. 

Until her watch beeped. 

As Jane turned the alarm off, he said, "What an odd contraption."

He wasn't wrong. The only resemblance it had to a watch was that it wrapped around her wrist and had a small section that told the time. The rest of the face read other things, like anomalies linked to wormholes and gave their whereabouts. She'd gone chasing after them to help prove the possibilities of teleportation. It'd worked, and she almost got eaten by a bilge snipe for her troubles. 

Her device had been what helped stop the Dark Elves during the Convergence, a very small help, but one nonetheless. The mayhem that day still lived fresh in her mind. Not only did the humans learn they were not alone in the universe, they learned they were on the bottom of the food chain. And then the Jotunns decided to test their strength against her world. Hence the alliance and the marriage. 

She pushed away the ache in her chest, and got to her feet, careful not to tear her dress or drop her notebook. The man at her side gave her a hand.

"I suppose we should go back in," he said. 

She nodded, slipped on her heels, and then grabbed the handle of her trunk. "They'll be making the announcement soon."

His face darkened. "Yes." 

With a slight bow, his gaze lingering on her far longer than it should have, he offered to walk her back to the palace.

She blushed, but followed him in amenable silence until they had to separate, entering the grand building from different sides. 

oOoOo

"I have a plan," Darcy said, pinning back the stray hairs from Jane's updo, fallen free from her little excursion. "Don't worry about a thing."

They stood outside a door to the Great Hall, a side entrance leading straight to the platform where the heads of their two monarchies sat. 

Jane took a breath to calm her nerves, but it shuddered and put her on edge even more. "It's too late."

"It's never too late. Trust me."

"Jane Foster," a deep voice called from the Great Hall. It rung through the air, like the solemn tolling of a bell announcing her funeral. 

Jane shook her head to snap herself out of her downward spiral. She was starting to sound like the mystery man from the Bifrost. He was nice, in a roundabout way, and he was definitely handsome. 

"I'm surprised you're smiling," Darcy said. 

Jane nearly started. She hadn't realized she'd been smiling. "I was just thinking of something else."

"Well, do what you must to look happy, but get your butt out there or they're going to think you've run away." Darcy opened the door and pushed her out. 

Jane stumbled and turned to glare back at her dark-haired intern, but she was already gone. 

Stretching to her full height, she lifted her chin and walked from the side of the large room filled to the brim with people crowded around the platform at the far end. Long dining tables lined the other side and two small orchestras were set up on either side, one from Earth and one from Asgard. Those nearby watched her every move: the humans with either a judgmental or pleased eye, and the Asgardians with their assessing, but pitying gaze. 

Her heart pounded in her ears, louder than the sound of the clapping and the cheers reverberating in the golden room. 

"Jane Foster," the deep voice announced again as she neared the platform, "Princess of Midgard."

The cheers grew louder. She had a feeling it was more out of support for her world than for herself. She made an odd, untraditional princess and was constantly featured in the tabloids. 

"Loki Odinson, Prince of Asgard."

Again, the noise level increased, along with her racing heart. 

Here was her soon-to-be husband, a man who hated humans. After telling herself she would keep her gaze on nothing and everything, she searched him out. He was a recluse and she'd never seen a picture of him. 

A tall man in dark green and gleaming gold with a curving horned helmet stood stiff-backed, looking out over the crowd as if they were beneath him. 

She stepped closer and caught sight of his profile, his aristocratic nose and thin lips, his strong jaw and dark hair sweeping over his pale ear. She stopped dead in her tracks. 

He was the man from the Bifrost. 

A hand, gently placed on her lower back, got her moving again. Jane didn't look to see who it had been, not with her gaze firmly fixed on Loki. She wanted to laugh in delight, and maybe a tad in hysteria, but shock kept her face composed. 

"These two shall be married in the coming days, sealing the bond of our great realms."

They now stood side by side, and he still hadn't looked at her.

"With Asgard's might and Midgard's ingenuity, our foes will tremble in fear."

Everyone hollered their fervent agreement, punching the air and stomping their feet. Behind them, their parents were quiet, looking out at everyone with unreadable, noble faces. Loki was no different. 

"Let the feast begin!"

The music started up—the Asgardian orchestra playing a jaunty number she vaguely remembered from her classes—the crowd turned and moved toward the dining tables, and the servants swept through the room tending to everyone's needs, like a hive of bees over a field of flowers. 

Thor and the Warriors Three made their way toward Loki from his side of the platform. Darcy from hers. 

Adrenaline kicked in. She had to get his attention before they were split up again. 

"Loki," she said. 

He stiffened, as if recognizing her voice, and spun to face her. "You."

A smile overcame her, and she nodded, but before she could get another word out, Thor had taken hold of Loki, dragging him away with a courteous bow of his head to her and a grin that would've made most girls' knees go weak.

Hers were more firm than they'd ever been. "Forgive me, but—"

Small but strong hands on her shoulders pulled her backwards. "It's about to happen. Come on," Darcy said into Jane's ears. 

"But he's—"

"Shh. I know, he's a complete jerk who just stood there, all haughty and contemptuous, as if you weren't even there." 

Darcy hauled her around their side of the platform, down the steps, and into the crowd, constantly shushing her and telling her it would all be okay. Jane had no choice but to make sure she didn't trip and fall during the mad dash. 

"Now stay right here," Darcy commanded, then slipped back into the sea of people, vanishing from sight. 

Jane's grumble transformed into a soft smile as everyone nearby turned to congratulate her and introduce themselves. Most didn't care about her, but were simply looking to make their way closer to the royal families for business or political reasons. 

A head of black hair, straight but for the ends, caught her attention. The person turned and her heart flipped over itself. Loki's gaze scanned the crowd, searching for someone. 

As politely as she could, Jane excused herself and edged through the throng to make her way toward him. People bumped into her and refused to budge until they realized who she was, slowing her progress to a crawl. 

She worried he might leave before she could reach him, but then he noticed her. With eyes fixed on her like a target, he stepped to her, moving with zero hindrance. He might as well have been Moses parting the Red Sea. 

"Jane Foster," he said with a corner of his mouth lifting. "My betrothed. Of all the people." He shook his head. "Why didn't you give your name?"

"Why didn't you, Mr. I'm About To Die?"

He nodded in surrender. 

"Does this mean you do not oppose the...arrangement?" She had a hard time saying "marriage." It was still too surreal. 

"I am far more agreeable." He paused and his certainty flickered in and out. "Are you still open to the prospect?"

She gaped. For all his vanity—and there was much, from how he held himself to how he spoke—he was actually insecure. She couldn't fathom why. He was clearly handsome and intelligent, a prince of the strongest world, and a talented magic wielder. But he was also disliked by many. She remembered what she'd thought of him at first based on all the rumors. 

Intent on speaking her mind, she took a breath. The words stayed lodged in her throat, though, as a man with shoulder-length dark hair and a muscular frame that rivaled Thor's sidled up to her. 

"Hey, doll." He kissed her on the cheek, a fraction too close to her lips. "Sorry I couldn't get here sooner. You weren't where you were supposed to be." He smiled and brushed her hair from her shoulders, trailing his fingertips down her bare arm. 

Jane blushed. So this was what Darcy was up to. She'd somehow convinced James to act like her boyfriend. Poor guy. Anyone would crack under that pressure. 

Loki stood as rigid as a spear. His green eyes had turned flinty. 

"James," she said. "There's no—"

"Loki Odinson." Loki stuck out a hand for James to shake, adapting their custom of introduction as smoothly as if he'd done it his entire life. 

James took it and gave his name. They stared at each other, shaking each other's hands, knuckles turning white, for far too long. 

"Okay," she said, but then James added his other hand, his gloved bionic one, to the mix, covering Loki's as if they were bygone friends.

Loki's smile tilted, almost a wince. James' widened. 

Placing her hands on her hips, Jane made to scold them like boys. Except, the hair on her arms stood on end and Loki's eyes seemed to light up. 

James' bionic arm went limp, and he looked down at it, frowning. "Excuse me, but I have to—" He backed into the crowd. 

Loki stood with a satisfied smirk, taller than what his already-ridiculous height lent him. 

"What did you do?" she asked. 

"I sent a trickle amount of magic into the neural implants attaching the limb to his nervous system and disabled them."

She blinked, and new desire rose up. To learn how to duplicate Asgardian magic with Midgardian science just might help her understand the Bifrost. 

"Any child could've done it," he said, attempting humbleness. It failed. 

"And just how long before he gets the use of his arm back?"

He tightened his hands into fists. "Why? Does me besting your lover disturb you?"

She choked on a laugh. "Lover?"

"Yes. Lover."

"He's just a friend, more like a friend of a friend." She sighed in exasperation. "Darcy, my intern, set this up. She—"

"So your heart does not belong to another?" He wore a cautious look, hope lining the edges. 

"Not unless you count science," she answered. 

His fists loosened, and he clasped his hands behind his back, standing straight with his nose in the air again. "Good."

"Good? That's all you have to say?" Not, 'Jane, I find you fascinating and wish to get to know you better, maybe even come to love you'? That's what she wanted to say to him. That, and she found him incredibly attractive. 

"You will be my wife soon, and I find myself no longer averse to the thought."

She lifted a brow and his furrowed in response. 

"This is all good, is it not?" he asked. 

"Well...yeah, but—"

The side doors banged open, quieting the room and drawing everyone's attention. 

"Father," Thor called as he rushed to the thrones where Odin and Jane's father sat. "Jotunheim has broken the treaty!"

The crowd gasped. The hushed sound was punctured with murmurs of disapproval and  
rustling as people drifted closer to the platform. 

Jane tensed. Jotunheim had been threatening Earth, even going so far as to send scouting troops to her world. They wanted Midgard, always had. Apparently, there'd been a war a long time ago, and Asgard had to step in to save the humans. But with the official alliance between the two worlds, the Jotunns had agreed to a treaty. They would forgo their imperialistic ways for better trade and lifting of sanctions. Earth should've been safe. 

Loki took her hand and gently squeezed, offering a small smile of support.

Odin rubbed his beard, staring vacantly into the distance. It was said he could see things others could not.

"Loki, Thor called into the throng, searching for his brother, the official diplomat to Jotunheim. "You are needed at once." 

Loki pulled her to the steps, taking them one at a time to keep with Jane's slower pace. When they finally reached the top, Thor gave him a surreptitious wink. She narrowed her eyes at him, but Thor just grinned. She knew he loved the glory of battles fought and won, but he should be a little more tactful. Her world was in danger. People could die. 

"Father," Thor said, "Laufey has gathered his magic users again. I believe they've already sent warriors off world. Loki must travel there immediately and talk them down." He sighed, giving Jane a forlorn face. "Sadly, it could take years to heal this rift. I say we postpone the wedding, possibly even the betrothal, until afterwards."

Loki shook his head. "They would not do such a thing, not after all the hard work we put into the treaty. They stand to lose too much."

"Brother," Thor said through gritted teeth, staring at him intently, "this is exactly something they would do. And now you must leave."

"Sons," Queen Frigga cut in, standing beside her husband, "I am certain this is just a mistake. Loki, finish your evening with Jane in peace."

Loki nodded and took a step back, but Thor urged them to heed his warning. Odin watched them carefully, and Jane couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't intervening. Thor was clearly lying. His mannerisms belied the truth. Besides, she had proof. 

"The only activity—teleportations—have been coming and going from here." Jane announced. "Jotunheim has been silent since the signing of the treaty."

Thor's gaze drilled holes into her head. "Forgive me, but how could you know that?"

Jane lifted her watch. "It analyzes the amount of gamma radiation in space, any bursts are sensed, recorded, and triangulated." She lowered it and brought up a silent Jotunheim. "See, nothing." 

Loki's eyes had widened a fraction and the corner of his mouth lifted. "Clever."

She blushed and tried to distract herself from the building heat by talking. "I designed it when it became clear teleportation was possible. The only worlds it currently tracks are ours and Jotunheim. Once the others are traversed, I'll be able to track them as well."

Her father came to stand beside her, placing a proud hand on her shoulder. "She may not be a warrior like the Avengers, but she is smart and hasn't steered us wrong."

"Thor," Odin admonished. "What was the purpose of this falsehood?"

The burly God of Thunder smiled ruefully. "Brotherly affection."

Loki's brows rose to his hairline. 

"I was merely trying to help you."

"Why?"

"You said you'd rather live a thousand years on Jotunheim than be forced to marry a Midgardian. You've been sulking since father made the announcement. I believe you described her as a plain and stumpy, uncouth—"

The next word was left unspoken, and not for the lack of trying. Loki had somehow made him mute. She could tell because of the furious glare he sent his brother, not to mention the wave of his hand that sent the hair on her arms to stand on end. 

Her father's ire was palpable, but it did not match her own. 

The pleasant warmth in her cheeks flared with her anger, spreading like a wildfire. "So everything they said about you was true?"

A pained expression crossed his face. "Jane—"

"I can't believe I fell for it. You probably knew who I was right away. It was all an act, wasn't it? Prove how stupid the Midgardians truly are? Well, where's the dunce hat? Because I actually thought I could love you one day."

She turned from them and stopped short at the transfixed crowd, blushing even more deeply than before. Stupid, indeed. She'd forgotten they had an audience. 

Fleeing down the stairs, past a waiting and concerned Darcy, past the Avengers in their formal attire, displeasure evident in their battle-hardened faces, and out the doors. The guards didn't try to stop her as she rushed out of the palace and ran to the Bifrost. 

"Heimdall," she stopped in front of the tall man encased in gold armor that matched his eyes, gulping in deep breaths. "Send me back to Earth."

"My lady?"

"I want to go home." At his silence, she added, "Please."

Her watch beeped. She looked down at it, showing activity in Asgard. Impossible. The Bifrost wasn't being used. 

"Jane," Loki said from behind her just as the readings abruptly ended. 

She spun to face him. "How did you do that?"

"Like this." 

Her watch beeped as he disappeared and reappeared at her side. She quickly recalibrated the sensors, taking into account this new development. "Do it again," she commanded of him. 

"Jane—"

Not taking her eyes off what she was doing, she said, "Do it."

He sighed, but did so, and this time she knew exactly where he would land. Lifting a hand, she slapped him as soon as he materialized in front of her. 

His face moved barely an inch and his cheek stayed its pale hue, even as her hand tingled from the force she'd put into it. 

He smiled, and she wanted to slap him again. Instead, she clenched her hands and faced Heimdall. "I want to go home."

"I will take you there myself," Loki cut in, "if you explain how you knew where I would be."

Scowling, she lifted her watch, as if that should explain everything. 

He took her hand and turned it over to look at the wide, digital face. His gentle fingers slid over the sensitive flesh, making tingles cascade through her body. 

She snatched her hand back. 

"And you just did that?" he asked. "You made it predict where I would be?"

Gritting her teeth, she nodded sharply. 

He looked at her through his ridiculously long lashes, gazing at her as if she were a wonderful mystery. 

The sincerity there made her take a step back. 

"You're everything I'd ever hoped for."

She shook her head, refusing to believe him, refusing to believe her own elation. Her scowl slipped out of place despite her best efforts.

"I admit to saying all those horrible things, I admit to jealousy when I saw that man treat you so familiarly, and I admit that I would be honored to have you as my wife. If you will have me in return."

Her breath caught in her throat. "Really?"

He nodded, stepping closer to her. 

"You're certain you want to marry such a loathsome, inferior Mid—"

Loki leaned forward, and planted his lips on hers. She tensed, not returning the kiss, but he closed the space between them, wrapping her in his arms, and she melted into his warmth. 

Fisting her hands in his hair, she lifted to her toes and explored his mouth more deeply. She loved the taste of him, loved the feel of his silky hair, his lean body so close to hers, and his hands exploring her curves. 

When she pressed herself more fully against him, he groaned and pulled back, eyes dark with want. "Jane."

Her stomach fluttered. Most of all, she loved the sound of her name on his tongue. "Yes?"

"Does this mean you'll have me as your husband?"

She grabbed the lapels of his jacket and pulled him down to her, their lips brushing together. "Yes," she said against him. "Now kiss me again."

He smiled and did as commanded, making her grateful Heimdall had left them alone on the Rainbow Bridge with its colors streaming underfoot and the stars overhead as their only witnesses.


End file.
